Texas political legend 'never afraid to fight'

Jack Brooks, standing alongside Bill Clinton during a 2008 rally in Beaumont, died Tuesday at age 89.

Photo By CECIL STOUGHTON/AP

**FILE** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as President of the United States of America in the cabin of the presidential plane as Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy stands at his side in this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo. Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a Kennedy appointee to the Federal court, left, administers the oath. In background, from left are, Jack Valenti, administrative assistant to Johnson; Rep. Albert Thomas, D-Tex.; Lady Bird Johnson; and Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Tex. Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.

Photo By Lana Harris/Associated Press

Jack Brooks: Democrat served more than 40 years in the U.S. House, representing the Beaumont area and later Houston. He was one of the few Southern congressmen to support the Civil Rights Act, and drafted the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon after Watergate.

Photo By Courtesy, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History

Dolph Briscoe, U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn, and U.S. Rep Jack Brooks pose on Briscoe's Caterina Ranch in this 1959 photo.

Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Texas, reads the newspaper to catch up on the news just prior to the beginning of the afternoon session of the House Judiciary Committee impeachment debate Thursday, July 25, 1974, in Washington.

Photo By Express-News file photo

Jack B. Brooks. Photo dated July 25, 1953.

Photo By Express-News file photo

Rep. Jack Brooks is honored by the Texas Senate as Lt. Gov. William Hobby listens on Jan. 10, 1989.

Photo By Harvey Georges/Associated Press

President Jimmy Carter chats with Reps. Dante Fancell, R-Fla., left, and Jack Brooks, D-Texas at the White House on Wednesday, April 7, 1977 in Washington after signing legislation which gives him authority to make changes in the federal government's structure. Carter said that his administration is determined to recognize and streamline the executive branch of our government.

Photo By Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

FILE - In this March 3, 2008, file photo, former U.S. Rep Jack Brooks escorts Hillary Rodham Clinton to the stage during a campaign stop at the Beaumont, Texas, Airport. Brooks, a Democrat who spent 42 years representing his Southeast Texas district, has died at age 89. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Jack Brooks, a Texas congressman whose feisty demeanor, salty language and uncanny ability to get things done made him a legend on Capitol Hill, died Tuesday night at Beaumont Baptist Hospital at age 89.

Over a half-century, Brooks went from being a protégé of House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson to serving as a mentor to generations of Democrats including current Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“He was a Texan through and through — tough, bold, and bigger than life,” Biden said. “He lived by principles that were carved into his heart, and he was never afraid to fight for what he believed in.”

Brooks, a decorated World War II Marine, was one of the last great figures of the lost era of Democratic hegemony in Texas. He served for 42 years in Congress, chairing two committees with an iron fist .

“Jack was a legend — he came out of central casting,” said Rep. Charlie Rangel, a New York Democrat who served on the House Judiciary Committee with Brooks. “If I wanted to think of the meanest Texas cowboy with a cigar, I would think of Jack Brooks.”

After 13,858 roll call votes and countless cigars, Brooks lost his bid for a 22nd term during the Republican revolution that put Newt Gingrich in the speakership in 1995.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Brooks was surrounded by his family when he died Tuesday of a sudden illness.

Born Dec. 18, 1922, in Crowley, La., Jack Bascom Brooks rose from a hardscrabble childhood in Southeast Texas, working his way through school as a grocery clerk, carhop, magazine salesman and reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise. He later fought in the Pacific in World War II, remaining in the Marine Corps Reserves until his retirement in 1972.

Elected to Congress in 1952 at the age of 29, the young University of Texas law school graduate was the last of the young Texas lawmakers schooled in the ways of Washington by the venerable Rayburn of Bonham at his unofficial “Board of Education,” where “Mister Sam's Boys” shared cigars, adult beverages and the spoils of power.

Unlike many Democrats of his time, Brooks fought for civil rights in the 1950s and was one of the only Southern lawmakers who refused to sign the “Southern Manifesto” supporting racial segregation.

“He was inspirational,” said former Rep. Nick Lampson, a Beaumont Democrat who reclaimed Brooks' seat in 1996. “It was the right thing for the country, and he knew how big it was for mankind.”

As a junior congressman on the House Government Operations Committee, Brooks made a name for himself by trying to root out wasteful government spending. But he became famous for something else: He was in the Dallas motorcade in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Ten years later, Brooks was at the center of another presidential crisis, this time involving the impeachment of Richard Nixon. A senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, Brooks pursued White House misconduct so relentlessly that Nixon dubbed him “the executioner.” The embattled president resigned on Aug. 8, 1974, after the committee voted for impeachment charges drafted by Brooks.

“He was a true-grit Texan, meaning that what he believed in, he didn't shy away from,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Dallas Democrat. “He was trustworthy. He believed in what he was standing for, and he didn't shrink away from it.”

Brooks' proudest accomplishment was the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he helped write. Legislation bearing his authorship included the 1965 Brooks Act requiring competitive bidding for government contracts; a measure that required the first uniform system of federal purchasing; the law creating independent Offices of Inspector General in major agencies to combat waste and fraud; and the act creating the federal Department of Education.

Throughout his political career, Brooks did not suffer fools gladly. Republicans either.

When Rep. Lamar Smith, a San Antonio Republican, was a new member of the House Judiciary Committee, which Brooks chaired, he drafted a noncontroversial bill that had no opposition. Brooks called the young lawmaker into his office to tell him his legislation would likely be passed by the committee.

“He let me swallow that hook, line and sinker,” Smith said. “Then he said I just want to change one word. The next week we passed the ‘Brooks bill,' not the ‘Smith bill.'”

Smith said Brooks reached out to mentor him, “because I was from Texas.”

“I learned two lessons there: the power of the majority and the power of the chairman,” said Smith, who later went on to hold the chairman's gavel once wielded by Brooks.

Many an ambitious young Texas lawmaker was schooled in humility by the irascible Brooks, who controlled committee assignments for new Democratic members.

As Brooks' clout increased in Washington, so did his financial worth. His investments in local banks and other ventures made him a millionaire — and caused some good-government groups to question the sources of his wealth.

“Like LBJ, he entered office poor and left wealthy,” said Murray of the University of Houston. “You cannot do that any more.”